2022-23 NBA Salary Cap Set at $123.6 million

The 2022-23 NBA Salary Cap is expected to come in at $123.6 million. That represents an $11.6 million increase over the 2021-22 cap. The news comes courtesy of Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

The NBA Salary Cap is determined by a percentage of “Basketball-Related Income” (or BRI) each season, basically a summation of the aggregate revenue the league takes in each year. 44.74% of BRI goes to the players as the foundation of the cap. Teams can exceed cap limits through cap exceptions, but NBA players, as a whole, must receive at least the designated percentage of total, basketball-related league income.

The 2022-23 cap line should yield a luxury tax threshold close to $147.8 million.

The Portland Trail Blazers currently have a cap obligation of $100.9 million with the ten new or currently-signed players they have a reasonable chance of retaining on their roster for the coming season. Those are Damian Lillard, Josh Hart, Nassir Little, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, Did Louzada, Greg Brown III, and Trendon Watford, plus new trade acquisition Jerami Grant and rookie draftee Shaedon Sharpe. That figure also includes $2.8 million of dead money from the Blazers waiving and stretching the contract of Andrew Nicholson.

The $100.9 million number does not include cap holds or estimated re-signing figures for projected starters Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic. Simons is a restricted free agent this summer, Nurkic unrestricted. Nor does it include the non-guaranteed contract of Eric Blesdoe (presumed to be dealt or waived before his $19.4 million contract becomes a burden) or unrestricted free agent Joe Ingles.

The Blazers cannot use the approximately $22 million in the gap between their official cap obligation and the new figure without renouncing the free agents with cap holds or non-guaranteed contracts on their roster: Nurkic, Simons, Ingles, and Bledsoe.